Above is our first look at a few cast members of Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave, the director’s follow up to his critical hits Hunger and Shame. Along with our first evidence of the increased scale of this period drama from his other, more acutely personal films, we also see that the young Beasts of the Souther Wilds star Quvenzhané Wallis has joined the cast so soon after her widely acclaimed debut in the Sundance hit.
Obviously Chiwetel Ejiofor also stands in costume, as he’ll be starring with (producer) Brad Pitt in the drama about a free black man who is captured, enslaved, and remains missing for over a decade. Later, after being freed again, Solomon Northrup wrote a book about the experience that provided a rare window into the world of slavery.
Dwight Henry has also migrated from Beasts into this cast, though he is not picture here. While the young man is not an easily identified actor, the woman in the picture is Kelsey Scott, a TV and soap star. It’s not clear if this is merely a spur-of-the-moment cast photo, or an actual assembling of a Northrup’s family in costume. Regardless, any excuse to make more people aware of this film is worthwhile.
If you haven’t seen Shame or Hunger, I would greatly endorse you doing so as soon as possible. Hopefully you’ll agree with me that there’s something very exciting about such detail-oriented, brave filmmaker like McQueen looking beyond his fixation on intimate struggles and looking to a bigger story. The potential for something unique and fascinating to result can not be understated.
I’m sure we’ll get looks at Fassbender and Pitt in costume soon enough, so keep your eyes peeled.
Source | Indiewire (via /Film)